• Football

Italian Football Federation investigate late goals

A cup game involving two sides from Italy's eighth division is being investigated by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) after eight own goals were scored in the final ten minutes.

The Coppa Sicilia match between Borgata Terrenove and Bagheria was finely-poised at 4-3 going into the closing stages of the game.

However, two regular goals and eight own goals soon helped Borgata clinch a 14-3 win, enabling them to join their opponents in the next round of the competition at the expense of Partinicoaudace, who lost out in the three-team group on goal difference. Partinicoaudace had beaten Borgata 7-0 in their other group match, having lost to Bagheria.

Borgata fielded a weakened side in both of their matches, apparently unwilling to qualify for the next stage of the competition due to more pressing league commitments.

"I hope the FIGC will be able to clarify what happened," Partinicaudace coach Giovanni Cammarata told siciliaingol.it. "I cannot understand the reason for these eight own goals. What happened has nothing to do with football."

Borgata denied there having been any agreement over the result, with their coach Ignazio Chianetta branding the conclusion of the game "a farce."

"As far as we're concerned, we took to the field to honour this cup game, even if our attention was focused completely on the league," he said. "It was a real match up to a certain point when Bagheria made a farce out of it. At the end of the game, their captain told me that they preferred us to go through and not Partinicaudace."

The FIGC are awaiting a referee's report into the proceedings before deciding what action to take, but its local representative Sandro Morgana has already delivered his verdict on the events.

"We can only define what happened in one way: it was an obscenity which has very little to do with sport," he is quoted as saying by La Repubblica. "I'm going to see to it personally that the federal prosecutor hears about it, and he will investigate it to establish what sanctions are due, and to whom."

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